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I'm trying to find new ways to enhance the audio from movies played from a computer through my AVR. As it stands I usually use the movies stored on a NAS and played through a WDTV (new version) via wifi. There is no problem with this but in researching it appears I am not capable of playing HD audio sources. I apologize if this question has been asked many times before but I can't seem to find any articles or posts relating to playing movies with either True HD or DTS HD sources or how I might go about that.

For my computer equipment I have a retina macbook pro, Win 7 64 bit computer, a ps3, and a Synology NAS and I am using a WDTV through a Onkyo tx-nr 3008 into 5.2 surround sound.

I have several computer parts laying around from my last build that I can probably turn into a HTPC if I buy a case for it if that is necessary. I really appreciate any advice or even a starting point as I would just like to learn how to improve my sound as much as possible. I have researched for a couple days and have not really found what I am after.

Hi,
I'm trying to find new ways to enhance the audio from movies played from a computer through my AVR. As it stands I usually use the movies stored on a NAS and played through a WDTV (new version) via wifi. There is no problem with this but in researching it appears I am not capable of playing HD audio sources. I apologize if this question has been asked many times before but I can't seem to find any articles or posts relating to playing movies with either True HD or DTS HD sources or how I might go about that.
For my computer equipment I have a retina macbook pro, Win 7 64 bit computer, a ps3, and a Synology NAS and I am using a WDTV through a Onkyo tx-nr 3008 into 5.2 surround sound.
I have several computer parts laying around from my last build that I can probably turn into a HTPC if I buy a case for it if that is necessary. I really appreciate any advice or even a starting point as I would just like to learn how to improve my sound as much as possible. I have researched for a couple days and have not really found what I am after.
Thanks

The hardware and MPC-HC will get you there, but unless something has changed you'll have to boot windows and use one of two methods to get it right. From windows you can either use LAV audio filters or the Shark007 codec pack, and I don't know if either of those devs have any interest in creating OSX versions.

Also, to be honest I usually can't tell a lot of variation between the HD audio and their core 5.1 versions (DD and DTS) when the AVR is set at the same volume, but many other people seem to notice a difference

The hardware and MPC-HC will get you there, but unless something has changed you'll have to boot windows and use one of two methods to get it right. From windows you can either use LAV audio filters or the Shark007 codec pack, and I don't know if either of those devs have any interest in creating OSX versions.
Also, to be honest I usually can't tell a lot of variation between the HD audio and their core 5.1 versions (DD and DTS) when the AVR is set at the same volume, but many other people seem to notice a difference

Thanks,

I have been continuing my research since I posted this and have come to the same conclusion that I will need a windows based machine to be able to bitstream the HD audio. I am mostly doing this just as a project really and I hate to leave something out there unfinished when I know it can be done I think that is a problem for many of the folks on here who go a few or many steps past where most people would have given in and said "It's good enough".

I will continue my research and see if I can do what I'd like without needing additional hardware but it looks like the macbook won't be a part of it for now at least. I was hoping that it would be easier with that since it finally came out with a HDMI port built in.

Thanks,
I have been continuing my research since I posted this and have come to the same conclusion that I will need a windows based machine to be able to bitstream the HD audio. I am mostly doing this just as a project really and I hate to leave something out there unfinished when I know it can be done I think that is a problem for many of the folks on here who go a few or many steps past where most people would have given in and said "It's good enough".
I will continue my research and see if I can do what I'd like without needing additional hardware but it looks like the macbook won't be a part of it for now at least. I was hoping that it would be easier with that since it finally came out with a HDMI port built in.
Thanks for the help

No prob

Also, to clarify, your Macbook Pro is plenty capable of accomplishing your goal. Just buy a W7 license and use bootcamp. It's just a driver issue, no new hardware required

you'll have to ask Linux guys about the HD audio thing. Linux isn't that popular in the HTPC space, so the software is limited like OSX, maybe more.

I would second the Windows 7 lincense. Your OSX disc should have all the Windows drives. Actually, there is a nice problem that will install all the drives you need. I use a mac mini for an HTPC with Windows 7 only (no OSX), and it made it a lot easier.

Plex doesn't support HD audio on any platform. I don't think it would be an issue the server, but the front end player doesn't support it. Maybe with XBMC and the mod for HD audio and the Plex addon, you may be able to do it with direct playback. Have Plex transcode such as for set top boxes (appletv, roku, etc) or mobile devices which is what PMS does if direct play is not supported.

option 2 - DVD Fab media player - delivers DTS HD MA .... but does not run fluently and you cant hear the sound - macbook seems to be to slow, should not be the case with the ati radeon 6770 graphic card.

If you're in OS X I still don't believe Dolby TrueHD or DTS HD MA is possible with any of those methods, at best you'll get "core" DTS or AC3. The only way to get high rez audio in OS X is to convert to LPCM, as was already mentioned. That's been mentioned on several threads already, not sure if there's a way to do that now entirely within OS X or if you still need Windows software to do it.

The way I got to play hd audio through my reciever and macbook is to play it through the mini opticle port and not hdmi cable because that only supports 2 ch. there are many mac players that support both version of hd as well as passthrough

The way I got to play hd audio through my reciever and macbook is to play it through the mini opticle port and not hdmi cable because that only supports 2 ch. there are many mac players that support both version of hd as well as passthrough

I believe that optical cable will not play any HD audio. At best, it will pass through the core. The core would be DTS or Dolby and not the HD version. This is a limitation of optical.
HDMI can pass through (technically) HD audio streams. OSX / EFI by Apple does not natively support HD audio pass through. To get HD audio, the easiest bet is to use bootcamp and fire up Windows with XBMC and output through HDMI to a receiver/AVR to handle the HD audio stream pass to it. The only other alternative is to convert the HD audio stream to LPCM stream which Apple should be able to pass through with no issue.

As I've understood it, Windows 8 is not prepared for the HD audio bitstream, you need Windows 7. I have no answer on the MacBook usage, but can confirm that it is possible using the Mac Minis HDMI output, Windows 7 and MPC with LAV extensions properly installed. And since the retina macbooks have HDMI outputs, I dont see why not...

And as someone mentioned earlier, the difference between a 5 channel 1,5 Mbps DTS core and DTS-HD tracks are hard to spot - but if you want to bitstream DTS-ES (6.1) or 7.1 audio, you need the HD formats. Also; sometimes DTS HD MA tracks are not included, but "DTS High Res" flash up on my pre pro, which are bitrates from the 1,5 Mbps core up to HD MA bitrate (which varies depending on channels and usage). The Dolby/DTS tracks are definitely preferred here, since I usually get the channels mixed up, trying to use LPCM, so center is in back left... Bitstream audio is on point every time.